Sigma Interacting With His Co-workers In Talon (with His Pills):

in which minerva is just a little jealous suspicious

I love how Irving's always been kind to Helly even when he's suspicious of Helena and even when he's trying to drown Helena. The most obvious example of this in S2E4 is Irving saying he's so sorry for hurting Helly and making sure that she felt safe, that she had an anchor to cling to as she came back to life in the most disorienting way ever. Irving held her so tightly and protectively in his arms, whispering comfortingly to her and trying to warm her up, and I was all 🥺 the whole time.

But there are actually two other moments in S2E4 that I want to talk about! The first is the snow seal conversation. Irving is full of distrust by then, but he doesn't let that overtake him in the moment. He asks "Helly" again to tell him what she truly saw outside, but he does it in a way that shows that he isn't going to judge her no matter what her answer is and she's safe with him. If it really were Helly with him and she was keeping a secret out of shame, he wanted her to know there was nothing to be afraid of. She wouldn't lose his trust or respect.

The second moment is when he gets Helly back. Again, the most talked-about part of that scene is what I said in the first paragraph, but what I love the most about that moment is Irving brought Helly back to life because he loved her that much. Yes, it was to prove that the woman who was with them since MDR returned to work after the OTC incident was in fact not Helly as he suspected, but he specifically yelled at Milchick to bring back Helly. Not '"show them I'm right!", "prove me wrong," "do you really want to risk killing an Eagan?", or anything along those lines. He demanded Milchick resurrect Helly, back from the nonexistence she was banished to. And when Milchick did, Irving made good on his promise in the post-snow seal conversation: it would be okay. It won't change anything. Even after finding out who Helly was on the outside, his love and trust are unwavering and unconditional, something Helena probably never thought was possible after showing her "true" self because she's never had that from her blood family.

One of the things that make me really mad/upset is when people are so enraged that Harry named one of his children, Albus Severus.

What makes me sad is that it shows a refusal to engage with one of the most important messages in the series.  Harry’s forgiveness, understanding, respect and acceptance is fundamental to the story, and Albus Severus as a name is predominantly about Harry - and not Albus or Severus.

Severus is a clear depiction of what can happen when you fail to move on from abuse.  He is a damaged man, mired in history, who cannot forgive or forget, who then repeats the cycle of abuse by bullying others.  Harry is a direct contrast to this; he was treated horrifically, but due to several factors, he was able to succeed where Severus failed - and was seemingly able to move past the horrors of his childhood.

Severus had no reason to forgive his bullies, who were seemingly unrepentant even two decades later.  Harry, on the other hand, discovered a wealth of evidence that proved that whilst Severus was a bully and nasty towards him, he’d also secretly been fighting to keep Harry safe from harm - and had dedicated his whole life to doing so.

Importantly, Severus is the resentful character who is shown to be stuck in the past, unable to separate James Potter from his son, unable to forgive or forget.  Severus’ hatred and resentment doesn’t punish James et al, and only ate away at Severus’ own happiness.  You could even argue that this hatred became even more of a punishment, preventing him from creating a positive relationship with Lily’s son, because he saw Harry solely as James’ son.

So, why would we wish that for Harry?  Isn’t it far better that Harry experienced the love and support which enabled him to come to terms with what happened to him at Hogwarts, and led him to a point where he was able to forgive?  Harry being able to reconcile Albus’ and Severus’ actions, and accept and forgive them both, is a sign of strength, contentment and peace.  We should be pleased and appreciative that Harry seems to be equipped to break the cycle of abuse.

When people sigh about Albus Severus’ name, they’re really saying, “Harry, you got it wrong.”  Ironically, in doing so, they’re proving themselves to be less like Harry and more like Severus himself - blinkered and blinded, unable to accept, unable to forgive and unable to move on.

The AU-blog Ankh-Morpork University is on summer hiatus, but I couldn’t resist making something for it and agentsandyquinn (whose art style I dearly love you should maybe follow them).

A la Colour of Magic, Rincewind has maybe kind of accidentally stolen the final exam answers, and is fleeing with his loyal Lug-gauge bike*, given to him by the exchange student Twoflower in his freshman year.

*Which is on a personal best this term of breaking seven legs of enterprising thieves, causing a few hundred shin bruises and severing one toe with the bike chain. This is a malicious bike ok. Rincewind always gets it back, because no one else can touch it without causing themselves injury.

So I noticed this during my final Pacifist Run...

Here’s Sans as a Lost Soul. Notice anything unusual about his speech text? Let’s compare to this GIF of Alphys.

And here’s a close-up on his speech.

It’s hard to tell when it’s not in motion, but the letters are shaking. No other Lost Soul does this. Not even he does this at any other time; not even when you face him in Genocide Mode. His text never shakes like this at any other point in the game. And what does he say? “just give up. i did.” “why even try?” “you’ll never see ‘em again.” When Sans faces you as a Lost Soul, he can’t hide the emotion in his voice any more. Killing his brother won’t get this reaction, being killed by you won’t get this reaction, because to stop himself from being hurt any more, Sans has made himself numb. Even if you’re Genocidal and you commit atrocities like he’s never seen, he’s too far gone, so deep in despair that he’s dead inside. But if you play pacifist and befriend Sans? He sees you tread the same path as he did, trying to make things right despite overwhelming odds. He looks at you, and he sees the innocence he’s lost. And suddenly he’s out of Snowdin, he’s following you across the entire Underground, and he’s rooting for you, kid. You’ve given him hope. You’ve given him a reason to break out of his rut and actually care about something, and that something is you. Behind that glitchy mess as a Lost Soul, he’s crying. And given this is the guy who’s disguised his pain with laughs for the entire run, that’s a pretty huge deal.

Dumbledore is someone I find hard to hate.

He used Harry, he used Remus (let's be honest, he only helped him to have an werewolf at his side of the war) and he used Severus.

He could had tryed to bring Sirius outta Azkaban, like he did with Morfin and that elf, but he didn't. He let Sirius stay there because his freedom would disturb his plans.

He let Harry stay in an abusive household.

He let Sirius get away with attemped murder, while forcing Severus to secrecy. (He obviously didn't gave a shit that he was probably traumatised)

He literely did nothing to stop the Slytherins to turn to Voldemort. (Either because they had no one else to turn to or by influence of their familys)

He treated the gryffindors better than he treated the other houses. (He let his precious gryffindor boys getting away with merciless bullying for 7 years)

But I just re-read HBP and man, he is sweet. He is very sweet. He cares. Maybe not about people that had no use for him, but he did. He cared about the Wizarding World. I dunno what was on his head, it is even harder to understand than what is on Snape's head. I really dunno. Help me.

What do you think of Death as a character?

Death of The Endless is straight up my favourite depiction of Death in literature and media that I've seen so far. It's so good to see a depiction of Death that is sweet and compassionate for once.

But what I think is rather unfortunate about her—as is also the case for her other siblings (or every fictional characters ever)—is that people tend to only remember a part of her and forget the rest

She is one of The Endless. She is Dream's big sister. But first and foremost, she is Death itself—and I think people tend to forget that part (and I am not exempt to that either). And Morpheus being so close to her says a lot about him.

At first, you'd see her as 'the voice of reason'. After all, she has a good head on her shoulders, and what she's saying sounds reasonable. But when it comes to Morpheus, everything she said made him stride closer to her. He followed her. He followed her advice. He sought her out. He felt at peace with her. That's not just a little brother looking up to his dependable big sister; She. Is. Death. What does it say when someone has that mindset and attitude towards Death?

It's written all over (which is why I don't buy people's complaints that the ending 'came out of nowhere') but of course, people tend to forget Death or what she is—both in real life and the story apparently. Especially when Death isn't depicted as terrifying I suppose.

Also, I love that she is compassionate and caring but she's still indiscriminate. She loves everyone the same way—which, in a way, is still cold and cruel to us humans; because in our context, being kind to the cruel is being cruel to the kindhearted. But that's what she is; she is not justice. She is not mercy. She is not punishment. She is just what she is; she is Death—and she is there for all.

Also, I personally think the parts of her that many dubbed as her 'humanity' or the signs that she is 'the most human of all The Endless' has less to do with 'humanity' specifically and more about how she is so close and inseparable to life that we can't recognize her—which is, imho, what makes her so jarring as a non-human being, and what's so terrifying but at the same time, makes perfect sense about the concept she is.

Her speech bubble and dialogue font being the exact same as the regular ones in comics. Her dialogue—the choice of words—that are totally normal, casual, snd familiar (like someone we know. Like a friend). The fact that she has a house which she decorated to her taste—that she has her personal taste. How she keeps goldfishes as pets; it's all so 'human' but we recognise that because we are humans and that how we live—so maybe it's not just about being human but rather being alive.

Either way, we recognise her as one of us: be it as the same being we are or as a being who is alive. She is indistinguishable from what we perceive as normal and natural because that's what Death is: it is as natural to die as it is to be born. Nothing out of place and nothing unsettling about her that we forget that she is there amongst us—she is everywhere. She will always be there. We don't know when we'll see her. We can't recognize her until she said 'time's up'. Thus, many of us live our lives as if she doesn't exist. But she will be there for all.

And forgetting and denying that she has always been there and always will be might make it even more agonizing when she does come for us than it would be if we were to accept that. But either way, she is just what she is. We live our lives because she will be there for us. We live our lives according to how we see her. She is the reflection of our lives and what defines it, but our lives are our own.

That's such a cool depiction of Death, methinks.

friends

Some of…practice

The Adventures of McCree Holmes and Sigma Watson- Intermediary 1

You’re wondering what my first reactions were to taking the old man under my wing? Y'know, it didn’t turn out to be as straightforwards as I thought it would be. I underestimated his title as the “town madman”, though calling him mad was a bit of a harsh word. The gentle folks of Ironclad weren’t usually the exaggerating type. That should have been my first clue.

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